In the operation of bathing establishments, for example swimming pools or bathhouses, a guest upon entering usually receives a key for a particular dressing room or cabin. This key is given back when the guest leaves the bathing establishment. In order to prevent a guest from losing a key during the bathing time, it has already been proposed to enclose the head of the key in a holder which is provided with a spring loaded member by means of which the key can be clamped onto a bathing suit.
It has also been proposed to dispense keys by means of an automatic key dispensing machine. With known key dispensing machines the return of keys is effected in the manner that the keys are inserted into a return slot whereupon they are scanned or sensed by suitable apparatus in the automatic key machine and are delivered to different individual key storage spaces. It is therefore necessary to provide different storage spaces separated from one another since for example men, women and children are assigned to different dressing areas so that these different groups of guests receive different keys. It will be understood that in some cases still further subdivision may be required. In order to scan or sense the keys and return the individual keys to the proper reservoir or storage space it is necessary to provide more or less expensive mechanism.